1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a device for winding tapes on a first set of reels while a second set of reels is simultaneously unloaded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is frequently necessary to wind several web-like, relatively narrow materials on individual reels simultaneously. For example, magnetic tapes used in audio or video recordings are made by forming a relatively wide web in an endless sheet and then feeding the sheet into a slitting device which separates the sheet into a plurality of narrower tapes, usually having identical widths. The tapes are then wound simultaneously by a winding device on individual reels. However, once a predetermined length of tape is wound on each of the reels, the whole slitting line must be stopped while the full reel assemblies are removed from the winding device and replaced by empty reels. Furthermore, some of the assemblies of reels are rather heavy and therefore difficult to remove. Thus it is seen that the prior art tape winding devices are slow and labor intensive.
While some attempts have been made to devise better winders, none of these attempts proved to be completely acceptable. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,929 a winding device is disclosed in which two diametrically opposed mandrels are rotatable between a winding and unloading position. However the disclosed device is cumbersome, needs special coupling and is able to move only one mandrel at a time.